Notes From Geek To Peak At SXSWi

// April 9th, 2009 // blogging

One of the better panels that I attended at SXSWi was called ‘Geek to Peak’, and centered around increasing and building my business as a consultant or freelancer. I found it really interesting, and ended up with a ton of notes. One thing that I’m currently working on is moving from saying ‘I am the Symbian-Guru’ to ‘I built Symbian-Guru, and I can do that for you.’ Don’t get me wrong, if there are any Symbian-Guru.com readers here. I’ll never sell the site, or shut it down. However, I think it’s better kept as a hobby than as a full-on business, for several reasons.

Either way, in 2 years, I’ve successfully built my own website, learned a lot about WordPress, both in how to set it up and use it, and in how to manipulate it to how I want it to work. I’ve taught myself how to edit CSS, PHP, and HTML, and have customized my own theme a few times. I have also installed, customized, and managed a vBulletin community, complete with integration into the WordPress community I had already built. I’ve learned plenty about SEO, advertising, and writing in general.

I’ve also now spent 2 years being a blogger, and a connected one, at that. I have seen a handful of companies that really did blogger relations ‘right’, and have seen more than a handful do it completely wrong.While I still enjoy blogging, I’m starting now to branch out a bit. Geek to Peak encouraged me as I’m moving to offering my services and knowledge to other companies. I know how to build a community, but more importantly, I know how to maintain it, and what it takes to really do well with it.

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While Ricky Cadden is currently employed by RadioShack, Inc, all the thoughts, opinions, and views shared here and elsewhere online are his own and in no way reflect those of RadioShack, Inc. You can read more about Ricky Cadden here, or contact him at Ricky(at)RickyCadden(dot)com.
  • http://antoinerjwright.com/ ARJWright

    I like workshops like those; I always leave them with notes and some solid sense of repurposing.

    Changing the way you speak about what you built is very important. It puts a different impression in the ears of others.

  • http://antoinerjwright.com ARJWright

    I like workshops like those; I always leave them with notes and some solid sense of repurposing.

    Changing the way you speak about what you built is very important. It puts a different impression in the ears of others.